Al-Qalam 
As Israeli tanks besiege the city of Khan Younis, a Gaza couple has informed their Durban-based son that they prefer to be killed in their own home than to allow Zionists to force them out into the streets, writes Ismail Suder.
“I will never be forced out of my home or my beloved land”, a respected Gaza lawyer, Jawad Shat, told his Durban-based son during a video call this week – only moments before the internet connection was cut.
With the army tanks rolling into the centre of Khan Younis, the Durban-based son Abdelrahman Shat, contacted his father in desperation to ask him whether he would consider leaving the house for their own safety.
“Never!” was the curt one-word reply.
But on Thursday morning, terror came to the family’s door. Bombs started falling in the vicinity of his parent’s home – and his brother’s house nearby was damaged after it was hit.
A few days earlier, his father’s law practice in central Khan Younis was turned to rubble.
With bombs now starting to be dropped in the Khan Younis neighbourhood – his father told him emphatically that he and his mother had decided NOT to move out of their home and go to Rafah.
“My father told me in a video call that they preferred to die in dignity in their own home – they said they will never allow themselves to be humiliated by the Zionists.
“My elderly parents have decided they will not move and live in the overcrowded areas of Rafah where there’s no accommodation, no water, no electricity, no sanitation, no fuel…. just nothing”, he said.
Asked by Al-Qalam whether his parents would consider leaving Khan Younis for the safety of Egypt if the Rafah border were to open, Abdelrahman said his parents wouldn’t even think of it. “They are deeply attached to their land”, he said.
Shat, who is currently completing his PhD in Business Administration in Durban, said he now fears for his family’s safety. “My brother and I are worried sick because my family is not contactable anymore. The anxiety is too much to bear”, he added.
Shat said he feels helpless that he cannot be there at his family’s side, but “I am making Dua so that my parents and my extended family are spared,” he said.
In Durban, Shat lives with his younger brother Waseem who runs a catering business in Westville, specializing in Palestinians foods. (Check out his Instagram page Palfoodrsa).
Shat’s extended family in Gaza includes a brother, three sisters, their spouses, and children.
So far over 15000 Palestinians have been killed in what many have described as “genocide”.
Evacuation
Meanwhile, in another dramatic development, 19 South African nationals – comprising six males and 13 females – who were stuck in a war-torn Gaza Strip since October 7, have safely returned home, thanks to the intervention of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) led by Minister Naledi Pandor.
The traumatised group of South Africans were approved for evacuation into Egypt by Israeli authorities.
“In a media statement, Dirco said: “South Africa extends its gratitude to the government of Egypt for granting the evacuated foreign nationals’ safe passage through the Rafah Crossing into its country”.
Minister Pandor said: “South Africa calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and the resumption of talks that will end the violence arising from the continued belligerent occupation and lays the basis for a just and lasting solution.”
One of the returnees was Zaakirah Chotiah. She had moved to Gaza in 1997 to work as a translator – and stayed. In fact, all four of her children still regard Gaza as their natural home, she told CapeTalk radio.
“It’s been a difficult journey as a South African living [in Gaza] for two and a half decades, but I do give my gratitude and thanks to the South African president and his team,” she said.
Professor Haidar Eid, a dual citizen of Palestine and South Africa, said he was now suffering hearing loss due to the loud bombs.
Eid, who is an associate Professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, said he feels as though he had been displaced again.
“I have lost my house. I have been displaced with my family three times and this is the fourth time, but I wouldn’t consider it a displacement because South Africa is my homeland.”
Eid said too many innocent people are suffering from the genocidal attacks on Gaza, and it was now time for the international community to call for a permanent ceasefire.
